Ethereal
by Blair Aelasar
Summary: A supposed easy misson turned wrong. Naruto gets injured protecting Sasuke and suffers repercussions of the attack. Can Sasuke and the rest of team 7 nurse him back to health? Will the rambunctious blonde stay strong or succumb to the darkness? SasuNaru
1. Prologue

_Hello, Blair here. This is my first fic. It's going to be SasuNaru and may feature dark subjects. This is your trigger warning. Hope you enjoy._

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Prologue

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Ughhhhhhhh, Naruto mentally groaned. This mission to Suna was taking a lot longer than it should've. It would normally take 2 days at top speed, 3 if they were to take breaks each day to sleep. But that's not how this mission was going.

Five times. They had to fend off bandits and nin FIVE TIMES in the past two days alone. And now instead of being in the warm sands of Suna, they were stuck a days time out from Konoha, in the pouring Autumn rain.

Naruto let out a heavy sigh and leaned back into the tree he was sitting on, sheilding himself from the freezing rain. "When are we going to continue with the mission?" His eyes wandered to his sensei who held Icha Icha Tactics in his hand. The man's uncovered eye met Naruto's lazily.

"We can't keep traveling in the dark knowing there are bandits camping out there waiting for us." He snapped the book closed in his hand and tucked it away in his vest. "We have to keep the safety of our contractors in mind."

Said contractors' huddled together on a large branch directly below the jounin. The tall, chestnut haired male's name is Sou. Next to him was the creepy, dead-eyed looking man with near white hair with uniquely shaped tattoos on his face, who wouldn't give a name. One tattoo under each eye and one between his brows that reminded Naruto of Kiba. Next was the shy, black haired girl in a tan kimono. For a ninja she wasn't exactly dressed for the occasion. If he remembered correctly her name is Yuki.

"Why are there so many people attacking us anyway? It's double of what we usually have to deal with." Naruto slouched forward, an elbow resting on his knee and his cheek in the palm of his hand.

"If I knew we wouldn't be stuck here would we?" Kakashi flashed his signature 'eye smile' and the blonde groaned.

"Stop whining dobe." Sasuke sneered. "It won't get us to Suna any sooner."

"Shut up teme.." Naruto grumbled. They were in for a long wait.

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**_Short, I know, but I'm not the best at starting off stories._** *-*;


	2. Tension

"Wake up!" SPLASH.

Naruto awoke, spluttering, coughing up the water that went up his nose.

"What the hell Sakura?!"

The pink haired girl stood with a hand on her hip, a victorious smirk graced her lips. "Sensei said to wake you."

"You could've just shook me or something." The blonde complained as he wiped the water from his face. Fuck it was cold!

"Heh, like I'd touch you." She waltzed off as if she were royalty and Naruto were the scum of the earth. He sighed.

Sasuke eyed him from the branch he was sitting on, ten or so feet from the orange-clad boy. "Hn." The raven's lips tilted up, amused by the blonde's aguish before resuming his usual emotionless facade.

Naruto wiped off what water he could before jumping to the forest floor below.

"Nice of you to join us." Kakashi playfully teased. "Eat up, we'll be taking off in twenty minutes." The jounin practically inhaled a granola bar behind his mask.

The blond plopped his ass on the ground and dug around in his bag for his rations. 'Huh? I swore they were in the inside pocket...'

Naruto proceeded to go through every nook and cranny of his bag to ultimately find nothing. As he looked up to say something he saw Sakura handing out his rations to the clients. She sent him a mirthful glare before going to annoy her precious Sasuke-kun.

He hung his head low, frustrated. Her smug attitude further rubbed salt in his wounds. She knew he wouldn't say anything and used it to her advantage to further terrorize him.

'At least my bottles of water are still here.' He pulled one out and chugged it hoping to hold off his stomach's demand for nutrition. His cerulean eyes roamed the area now that he could actually see.

The pouring rain lightened up to a soft sprinkle and the dark sky now was partly cloudy. He rose to his feet to find a spot to relieve himself.

"Where are you going?" Kakashi asked, "We'll be leaving soon."

"To piss, I won't take long." Naruto waved him off.

Sakura's nose scrunched up at the crude language. "God, he's disgusting. Right Sasuke?" She fawned over the stoic teen. He kept silent as he watched Naruto walk away.

* * *

"Are you all set to go?" Kakashi politely asked the trio huddled around the fire. Yuki's eyes were hesitant but nodded her approval. "I'm ready when you are." Sou added.

As the trio got to their feet Naruto came back into view. "Come on you lovebirds!" Kakashi shouted to the two teens still in the trees. Sakura blushed and Sasuke gave Grade-A Uchiha glare.

They dropped to the ground as Kakashi put out the fire. "Everybody ready?" He asked and was met with affirmative nods all around. "Okay, let's go kiddies."

* * *

About an hour into their journey things started to feel off. The slight fog and morning dew gradually became thicker as they kept walking along the path. Everyone kept silent but alert.

After another ten minutes of walking Kakashi held his his hand up, signaling for everyone to stop. "What's wrong sensei?" Sakura blurted out obliviously, to which Kakashi brought a finger to his masked lips, urging everyone to keep quiet.

"I can smell something weird.." Naruto mumbled. Kakashi's eye widened and barked for everyone to fall back as something similar to a molotov cocktail was hurled in their general direction. "Get into position!"

The three genin took their rightful positions, shielding their contractors with their bodies with kunai ready.

Yeah, it was definitely going to be a long mission.

Kakashi performed a series of seals and with an audible pop, a nin-dog came into existence.

"What now Hatake?"

"I need you to see how many enemies we're dealing with. I can't smell anything with all this smoke."

With no further questions the dog disappeared into the fog. "Cover your noses." Kakashi ordered. "We don't know what chemicals are being burned."

Everyone did as told and began their waiting game. Seconds felt like minutes while they waited for the little mutt. Naruto's ear twitched and turned his head to the direction of the noise. Preparing to investigate, a hand grabbed his arm. "Keep your eyes on your task dobe." Sasuke hissed.

A bead of sweat ran down the side of Naruto's face. Fuck the humidity was bad and the fire caused by the molotov not far from them wasn't making it any easier to bare.

At last Pakkun came sprinting back with noticeable blood on his muzzle. "Report?" Kakashi asked.

"At least 8, maybe 10."

"Location?"

"Three directly ahead with other's scattered in the trees."

Kakashi let out an exasperated sigh. This really wasn't a preferable way to spend his morning. "We're moving forward. Stay in position."

As soon as he finished his sentence, chains came surging out of the fog, wrapping themselves around Kakashi's arms and torso before yanking him back into the fog along with them.

"Sensei!" Sakura screeched, her hands trembling, holding on to her kunai for dear life.

"Stay calm." Sasuke silenced her. "We have to protect the clients."

Naruto kept unusually silent. He was exhausted from his lack of sleep and food and was trying to keep focused.

The noise he heard from before repeated itself and he side glanced in the direction of it. "Duck!" The blonde exclaimed as a series of shuriken and kunai came flying their way.

Sakura was too slow and took a shuriken to the thigh with a pitiful wail. She staggered to keep herself in position. "A-Are you okay?" Yuki whispered to her.

"Y-Yeah, I can handle it."

"I knew we should've asked for someone other than children." Sou heatedly complained. Finally the white haired man broke his silence with, "Will you shut it? This isn't the time to bitch."

Thankful for the nameless man's outburst, the genin kept their attention ahead of them, preparing for another attack.

"Where is Kakashi?" Sasuke mumbled to himself. Naruto kept his silence, forcing himself to listen carefully to the sounds around them.

"Any ideas?" Sakura asked to no one inpartiular.

"I-I can fight if needed." Yuki stammered out.

"No!" Sou exclaimed. "Taijustu won't do any good if you can't see the enemy. Just stay put."

"He's right." Sasuke added. "It's our job to protect you, put your safety first."

"Well said pup." Pukkun joined in.

"Can you sense Kakashi sensei?" Naruto finally spoke. He squinted his eyes, urging them to see something other than this thick fog.

"It's faint but yes."

"What should we do?" Sakura asked the nin-dog.

Pakkun hummed in contemplation. He searched their surroundings warily. "There is someone towards the right of Naruto." Exactly where the blonde heard rustling before the swarm of metal assaulted them.

"I can draw them out into focus. When I do you need to attack."

Silence consumed the group. Anxiety was thick in the air.

"Are you ready?"

The genin hesitantly gave their consent. And chaos was sure to follow.


End file.
